The portrait of Mafifa. Conversation with filmmaker Daniela Muñoz Barroso
By MAYTÉ MADRUGA - december 8th, 2023
RIALTA
Mafifa and Daniela have memory in common. The former still runs the risk of not being part of the historical narrative; the latter uses memory to understand the world and herself. This is one of Ariadne's threads that united and allowed them to meet in the labyrinth that was the shooting, the construction of the documentary film ‘Mafifa'.
The audiovisual work is part of the selection of the IV INSTAR Film Festival and can be seen this Friday, December 8, at Zumzeig Cinecooperativa in Barcelona, Spain; on Saturday, December 9, at the Centro Cultural General San Martín, in Buenos Aires, and on Sunday, December 10, it will be available again -after last Tuesday's session- on the online platform Festhome.
Cuban filmmaker Daniela Muñoz Barroso talked to Rialta News about how the paths of these two women intersect.
If you had to talk about your role in Mafifa, would you talk about sincerity or exposure? Why?
I believe that my role in the film was a kind of natural bridge to connect with the character of Mafifa or with the idea of who this woman might have been. In the beginning, as always, we didn't know what film would emerge; I just knew that I was very interested in building a portrait of this woman, and that's where I started the research, the questions, person to person, trying to find someone who had met her... That research set me on a journey, and in that journey, I found a city unknown to me, which captivated me mainly because of its sounds, noises, and strength. As I asked about Mafifa, the woman, the question bounced back in different ways to me and to the other women I met on that trip. They were questions that created and linked points in common among all these people, but above all, among the women - and not only those I met along the way, but also those who were with me at the time, Leila [Montero], Glenda [Martínez Cabrera], Carlos [Melián] and, later in the montage, Joanna [Montero]. So, besides sincerity or exposure, I would speak of impulses, of energies. I think participating or appearing in the film was a way for me to answer those questions and for us to accompany each other on that journey.
I don't know if I'm explaining myself. Sometimes I get abstract... There was a definitive fact that made me appear in the film: the idea that I couldn't hear the bell of Mafifa. Starting from this point, the journey began to take other forms for all this could mean. The absence of... the trace of... the search for...
The Cuban West, the place where you were born, and the East, the place you visited, are part of the same nation, but they have differences in their lives and culture. Was this a factor taken into account during the shooting and the subsequent editing of the film?
They are parts of the same nation but very distant from each other. In the trips to Santiago during the Carnivals or to Villa Clara during Parrandas, I always found something very real, the face of an island that enters a trance in these festivities and shows itself as it is. I had a feeling that in those moments, I could access a part of history or the past. In the act of recreating tradition, I connected with a Cuba that once was and of which little remains. During these popular festivities, the present Cuba and the Cuba that could have been come into very direct contact. I circle back to abstractions. I feel that there is a collective subconscious that goes into a trance and frees itself from all its pains through dance, alcohol, religion, and music, and perhaps that is why this trance has movement and is so intense: because there is a kind of search, also to let go of something. For me, that is the conga or the fire of a parranda. And sound is a fundamental factor here because it describes that trance, accompanies it, and sometimes even plays a leading role in it.
In Havana, I could also find some reality and truth, of course, but not the ones I am interested in portraying, perhaps because many people have done it before. So I always prefer to go to the margins, to listen to the stories of people who are different from me and who have a lot to contribute to me as a human being, as a documentarist, and also as a Cuban. I always feel that in 'Mafifa' there were many things left unsaid, there were ideas planted that show their little heads in the ground, and there are those who see it and those who don't. I always thought of going to Santiago and continuing shooting; even after a month of filming, I went to coast towns, many of which are threatened to be flooded by the sea... And there, for example, I met a beautiful woman who lives in a small town called Mar Verde, where the hurricanes have destroyed everything, and the people who remain there do not want to leave, but they know the risk it represents. But I had decided at that moment to continue the trip completely alone, and not to film, just to listen…
I went back to Havana with the idea of sorting all the material, working on a script, and returning to Santiago, but COVID-19 came... And well... The rest is common knowledge.
It's often seen as 'normal' for filmmakers to take on field production, especially in films that can be classified as documentaries. In your vast experience in this field as well, do you think the roles of producer and director get 'confused'?
I always get confused, that's why I always try to get Leila to join me, hahaha. Producer Daniela produces other projects, but very little or poorly for herself. I feel that sometimes I don't give my projects the time they need. But, well, luckily, Estudio ST is not just me. We are a creative group and, at the moment of truth, we can count on each other.
During the shoot, I always try to be with one other person, a very intimate crew, and sometimes I'm even by myself. But other times, I feel that the best would be having three people: a sound technician, a producer/assistant director, and me, directing and shooting. We all participate in the journey and in guiding the way.
Before and after the shoot, it's much easier for me to produce, to think about a financial strategy, a schedule, a crew, etc.
The reconstruction of female characters in cinema is a path between discovery and vindication; which comes first to you in 'Mafifa'?
The encounter! I mean, I guess it would be the discovery, but I don't like to say "discover" because all these women were already there with their lives and their wonderful stories. For me, that moment of meeting the other person and getting to know each other is fascinating. Then comes that need to capture their imprint in the time capsule that is cinema.
The concept of 'tradition' or 'traditional' is something that captures your attention as a filmmaker. Would you always approach it from a questioning perspective or the reconstruction of historical memory?
I think I unintentionally answered a little bit of this question earlier. It's a combination of both. I think it has to do with understanding a little bit of where we come from. What those traditions hold about what we were before and what we are now, and why. I try to understand history as a being that inhabits the present and with which I collide and converse. Also, as a way of being me here and now.
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